CTL Conference
CTL's annual Realizing Student Potential • ITeach Conference offer a meeting of systemwide faculty to learn from one another and discuss the challenges of making the latest research a reality in our classrooms for our students.These conferences bring together more than 1,300 faculty and make visible the work and the achievements of faculty teaching in Minnesota State Colleges and Universities classroom
In 1999, the Center for Teaching and Learning began offering faculty development opportunities by hosting statewide conferences to foster professional growth in teaching. Early themes included service-learning, assessment, diversity, humor in the classroom, the science of learning, and other topics-all based on input needs from faculty about their needs and interests.
In the late 1990s, course Web sites began to be developed and e-learning became a common word heard on campuses. Faculty-many eager, some skeptical-began asking for more information on how to use technology to improve their courses and student learning. Conference topics then expanded to include the 'information highway', asynchronous learning environments, research on effective engagement of online students, and information literacy.
CTL and Instructional Technology (IT) began in 2000 to jointly sponsor an annual meeting on instructional technology; since 2001, it has been the 2-day annual conference, ITeach: Best Practices in Teaching with Technology. ITeach attracts more than 350 faculty and instructional technology staff from around the state. At ITeach, the creativity of faculty in using online and classroom technologies to improve student learning is on exciting display. With the advent of Minnesota Online, "the Guide to Online Education from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities" (and a new co-sponsor of ITeach), more and more faculty have begun to teach fully online classes. ITeach offers them, as well as technology neophytes, a place to gather and learn from one another. Keynote speakers over the five years have included:
- Rita-Marie Conrad, Florida State University, author of Engaging the Online Learner
- Marc Prensky, author of Digital Game-Based Learning
- A. W. "Tony" Brown, University of British Columbia, author of Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education
- David Brown, Wake Forest University, author of Using Technology in Learner-Centered Education
- Susan Ko, Sylvan Technology and Steve Rossen, UCLA, authors of Teaching Online
- Brian Fitch and Alec Kirby, University of Wisconsin, on "Closing-the-Distance Education"
For the current conference information Please click here.
